David Dalglish - A Dance of Shadows

His eyes were closed, as was his mouth. That was it. A lethal hit with an arrow should have left him gasping in pain, his face reflecting that upon death, but it had not. The killer had shut his eyes and mouth to create the appearance of sleep, but why? Knowing he had little choice, Haern reached down, pushed two fingers between the dead man’s teeth, and pried his jaw open. Starlight reflected off metal, and something about the sight sent a chill down Haern’s spine. Lying on his tongue were two gold coins stacked atop one another. Haern took them, trying to decide the significance. A personal vendetta? A paid hit by another guild?

Laughter startled him, and he reached for his blade. He let it go when he realized it was just a drunken man curled against the wall, nearly invisible in the darkness.

“Sorry ’bout the scream,” he said, drinking from the half-empty bottle he held. “Didn’t mean to scare anybody.”

“Did you see who did this?”

The drunk shook his head. “Like this when I got here. Nearly tripped over the damn thing.”

Haern frowned. So the scream had been from the drunk, not the man dying. It didn’t surprise him, given how dry the blood was across the man’s throat. He yanked out the arrow, held it up to the moonlight. He caught sight of tiny white flecks of dried poison on the metal intermixed with the blood. A professional hit, but again, by whom, and why? He glanced about, looking for a message, and quickly found it. That he hadn’t spotted it immediately upon entering the alley unnerved him. It was large, and written in blood upon the wall.

tongue of gold, eyes of silver

run, run little spider

from the widow’s quiver

“The Widow?” Haern wondered aloud. The drunk’s laughter stole away his concentration.

“You got competition,” he said, then laughed again before staggering away. Haern looked to the gold coins in his hand and didn’t see the humor. As he read over the simple rhyme, a thought hit him, tightening his stomach into a knot. Bending down beside the body, he carefully opened the dead man’s eyelids.

“Damn it,” he whispered. “Damn it all to the Abyss.”

The man’s eyes were gone, replaced by two silver coins staring up at the moonlight.

Haern left them for the guards to take.

Haern returned home to the Eschaton Tower exhausted. He’d scoured the area surrounding the murder victim as best he could and tracked down several runners of the Spider Guild. The few he found had heard nothing, seen nothing, and even when threatened showed no sign of lying. Leaving Veldaren for the tower beyond the city walls, he’d felt nothing but frustration and bafflement. He kept repeating the phrase in his head.

Tongue of gold, eyes of silver…

As he opened the door, the smell of cooked eggs welcomed him home. Delysia was the only one awake, and she sat beside the fireplace with a plate on her lap. The orange light shone across her red hair, making it seem all the more vibrant. Seeing him, she smiled. The smile faded from her youthful face when she noticed his sour mood.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“I’ll talk about it later,” he promised, heading for the stairs.

“Don’t you want something to eat?”

He shook his head. He just wanted sleep. Hopefully when he woke up, he’d have new ideas as to why someone had killed a member of the Spider Guild in such a ritualistic-not to mention expensive-manner. Besides, the thought of eating twisted his stomach. He’d seen a lot of horrible things, but for some reason he couldn’t get the image out of his head of the corpse’s vacant eye sockets filled with coins.

Eyes of silver…

Haern climbed the stairs until he reached the fifth floor and his room. Hurrying inside, he sat down on his bed, removed his sword belt, and drew out his sabers. Carefully he cleaned them with a cloth, refusing to go to bed with dirty swords no matter how tired he was. That was lazy and sloppy, and laziness and sloppiness had a way of sneaking out of one habit and into another. His many tutors had hammered that into his head while he was growing up, all so he could be a worthy heir to his father’s empire of thieves and murderers. He chuckled, then put away his swords. Not quite according to plan , he thought, imagining Thren scowling. Not quite at all.

Run, run little spider…

His bed felt like the most wonderful thing in the world, and with a heavy cloth draped over his window, he closed his eyes amid blessed darkness. Sleep came quickly, despite his troubled mind. It did not, however, last very long.

“Hey, Haern.”

He opened an eye and saw his mercenary leader sitting beside him on the bed. His red beard and hair were unkempt from a night’s sleep. He wore his wizard’s robes, strangely dyed a yellow color for reasons Haern was sure he’d never hear. Trying not to smack the man, Haern rolled over.

“Go away, Tarlak.”

“Good morning to you too, Haern.”

Haern sighed. The wizard had something to say, and he wasn’t going to leave until he said it. Rolling back, Haern shot him a tired glare.

“What?”

“Some fancy new noble is returning to the city today,” Tarlak said, rubbing his fingernails against his robe and staring at them as if he were only mildly interested. “Lord Victor Kane. Perhaps you’ve heard of him?”

The name was only vaguely familiar, which meant the man had been gone from Veldaren for a very long time. If Haern remembered correctly, he was just another one of those lords who lived outside the city and liked to occasionally make a scene proclaiming how horrible Veldaren was, and how much better it’d be if their ideas were listened to. All hot air, no substance.

“Why should I care?” Haern asked, leaning against his pillow and closing his eyes.

“Because he’ll be meeting the king soon, perhaps within the hour. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but it sounds like he’s bringing a veritable army with him.”

“As if King Edwin would let them pass through the gates.”

“That’s the thing,” Tarlak said. “It sounds like he will. He sent a message to the king. I won’t bore you with all the details. Much of it was the standard pompous nonsense these lords are fond of. But one comment in particular was interesting enough my informant thought it worth waking me up early.”

Haern put his forearm across his eyes.

“And what was that?”

“I believe it was something to the extent of: ‘Right now thieves police thieves, yet when I am done, there will be no thieves at all.’ ” Tarlak stood from the bed, then walked over to the door. “Sounds like someone plans on taking your job.”

He left. The room once more returned to quiet darkness.

Haern sat up, tossing the blankets aside.

“Damn it all…”

King Edwin Vaelor fidgeted on his throne, eager for the meeting to begin. Beside him stood his aging adviser, Gerand Crold, looking tired and bored. They’d emptied out the grand throne room of petitioners and guests, per Gerand’s request. The adviser rubbed at the lengthy scar along his face, as if it bothered him. A sign of nervousness, belying the calm façade he showed. For some reason this made Edwin all the more impatient. Over the years he’d listened to what felt like a hundred lords talk about how they could do a better job policing Veldaren. A few had even tried, such as Alyssa Gemcroft, who had unleashed an army of mercenaries upon the streets for two deadly nights. Half the city had damn near burned to the ground because of it, too. If not for the Watcher’s agreement’s actually bringing about peace, as well as Alyssa’s paying for the damages done by her mercenary bands, Edwin might have tossed her into prison for a few hundred years.